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Tim Harper: U.S. election: Barack Obama playing one role Mitt Romney cannot

Americans in distress look to their leader in a way Canadians seldom do, testing their president&rsquo;s leadership skills close to election day as never before.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C., about ongoing relief in the wake of Hurricane Sandy earlier on Oct. 30. Disaster response can define a presidency in this country. (CHRIS KLEPONIS / MCT)

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—As commander-in-chief you strive for a bullhorn-amidst-the-rubble moment and you seek at all costs to avoid a “Brownie you’re doing a heck of a job’’ moment.

Disaster response can define a presidency in this country and the bullhorn and Brownie moments were both products of the George W. Bush years, a post Sept. 11 high that propelled him to a 90 per cent approval rating and a post-Katrina embarrassment that he never recovered from.

Barack Obama is taking a calculated risk, suspending his campaign for three days even as the presidential race is in its final week and suddenly two supposedly safe Democratic states may be back in play.

But history would indicate that by remaining above the fray, Obama is smartly using the one card Mitt Romney could never play — the presidency.

When Americans are in distress, they look to their leader in a way Canadians seldom do.

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Obama is seen in The Situation Room, huddled with advisers and his key cabinet ministers, popping up in the press briefing room to show concern, or as much concern as this aloof man can muster.

He has all but frozen out Romney who will resume flat out campaigning Wednesday, but must temper any partisan remarks with concern for those hurt by Sandy and trying to regroup.

Tuesday, Romney visited a storm relief centre, albeit in Ohio, a swing state most believe he must win if he is to gain the White House next week.

Obama can look to be above such partisan bickering because he is in charge of a country with huge swaths recovering from Sandy’s siege.

Obama won effusive praise from New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie, a thank you so gushing it immediately started speculation that the potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate was undermining Romney.

The president spoke to affected governors and mayors all morning Tuesday, donning the garb of fixer-in-chief.

Of course, this can be a double-edged sword for a president, and the fixer-in-chief must get things fixed, a downside Romney need not worry about.

Failure to move swiftly and decisively can prove fatal.

Ask Bush.

He stood amidst the carnage of the World Trade Center in 2001 and vowed to bring those who attacked America to justice, the highest point of his presidency.

Ten days after Bush offered his praise for Michael Brown, a patronage appointment and horse show judge with no disaster experience, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) resigned over his inept handling of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast in 2005.

Bush learned his lesson from the Katrina debacle, which included a rather disengaged flyover of New Orleans, during the San Diego wildfires in 2007 when he moved victims with his visit and comfort.

But it was too late, his second term was forever stained by the Katrina response.

Bill Clinton was the hugger-in-chief. He “felt your pain,’’ and he has continued in that role since leaving the presidency with trips to Haiti and other stricken regions.

As the Democratic presidential candidate, he beat incumbent George H.W. Bush to Florida after a hurricane hit during the 1992 campaign.

Canadians also rally for fellow Canadians in distress, but they don’t take their cue from their leaders.

This week, with Sandy bearing down on Canada’s largest city, federal assurances of readiness came Monday from Candice Bergen, the parliamentary secretary to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, only after she was questioned in the Commons by the NDP.

As Toronto grappled with the storm Tuesday, Toews spoke at an Ottawa conference then refused to meet with the media to deliver any message from the federal government regarding Sandy.

In 1997, Jean Chrétien infamously called an early election while Manitobans were still dealing with the massive flood of the Red River. Chrétien not only won the election, he won Manitoba.

On this side of the border, Obama can take credit for rebuilding the credibility of FEMA after Bush used it as a dumping ground for cronies. Clinton had overhauled FEMA after Hurricane Andrew, only to have the Republicans tear it down again.

Romney, during the Republican primaries, called for less of a federal role in disaster response and relief indicating the FEMA yo-yo would go back to benign neglect under a Republican administration.

Never has a president’s leadership skills been tested so close to election day.

But, win or lose, Obama is ending a four-year term playing the role assigned him by the American voters.

Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. tharper@thestar.ca

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